Na Parede by "Zíngaro", Stoffner, Lonberg-Holm, Madeira

Carlos "Zíngaro" - violin
Flo Stoffner - guitar
Fred Lonberg-Holm - cello
João Madeira - double bass

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Windout 'Il quartetto più folle della scena Impro/jazz europea. Anarchici, punk senza regole, Zíngaro/ Stoffner/ Lonberg-Holm/ Madeira dissolvono i suoni in sofisticate e ardite animosità free. Figli di ornette Coleman e david Torn, il quartetto gira su se stesso creando diavolerie postmoderne. Carlos "Zíngaro" (violin), Flo Stoffner (guitar), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello) e João Madeira (double bass) contro l'accumulo di ricchezza e potere socialmente distruttivo. Quattro tracce seminali composte da varie 'forme' di avanguardia, davanti al violoncello, chitarre, violino e contrabbaso si vedono un piccolo, crescente cumulo di idee sgembe. L'archetto afferra le corde, a doppio registro. La colofonia si scalda, si surriscalda, si scioglie. L'attrito come materiale musicale. Il mondo crudele di Cecil Taylor e dei Sonic Youth appare come divinità; libero, vitale e disinvolto. Le composizioni e le performance collettive sono state elogiate per la loro portata cinematografica, che fonde testi fluidi con profondità atmosferica, e questa nuova uscita promette di spingere ulteriormente questi confini. I punti di pressione? Pedra e Água, inattaccabili. Sperimentale.' Windout (facebook)
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salt-peanuts.eu 'Portuguese, Lisbon-based double bass player João Madeira’s 4DaRECORD label celebrated the Record Store Day of 2025 with two albums featuring a free improvising string trio – veteran violinist Carlos «Zíngaro», American cellist and frequent visitor to Portugal, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Madeira, all collaborated before in different formats and contexts, plus a guest.
The first album Na Parede features the string trio expanded with the Swiss guitarist Florian Stoffner, known for his collaboration with British master sax player John Butcher, for its first-ever meeting, spanning three generations of improvisers. The album was recorded live at SMUP in Parede town near Lisbon in March 2023, and an early version of it was released for the Catalytic Sound subscribers, as the quartet was titled The Wall 4tet, in October 2023. This quartet plays four unhurried pieces in tight, inquisitive, and focused dynamics, suggesting complex and layered string textures that reach only briefly cathartic climaxes. The quartet adds that «The listener almost has the feeling that left and right, above and below are always present at the same time».' Eyal Hareuveni, salt-peanuts.eu
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spontaneous music tribune 'We start with a rather intimate but intense improv drama, in which an American cellist (although settled in Lisbon) and an equally well-known Swiss guitarist take part. Then, as is often the case in Portuguese productions, there will be a lot of jazz (even with compositions by legends of the genre), a bit of guitar-saxophone abstraction and a short but blunt solo set for the double bass. There are no surprises among the performers – we all know each other like old horses. So, welcome to the Portuguese improv way of live !
(...) a recording that was made public quite soon after it was recorded, but only in electronic files. It is only now reaching a permanent medium, and that is truly wonderful news. A freely improvised story for four string instruments, it is an excellent album.
Delicate introductions with a flash of post-baroque, deformed by creativity and twisted melodies, are outlined here with both pure phrases and those bathed in the mud of preparation. All of them, exquisitely innervated, remain in a state of permanent interaction. Three acoustic instruments can phrase in such an unobvious way, sound so unusual that in many moments it is difficult to indicate whether it is the sound of a violin, a cello or a high-hanging double bass bow. The non-standard electric guitar builds, of course, an intriguing counterpoint, sometimes dissonance, but it can also perfectly fit into the acoustic streams of sounds. The musicians flow in a stream of constant changes - from a peaceful walk on a green hill, through fiery accumulations, to dark meditations in a deep crypt. In the second improvisation they achieve a truly impressive tempo, and many actions are saturated with surprising dynamics. In the third part, the longest, perhaps the most beautiful, they allow themselves to do absolutely everything. On the one hand, they unite in choral singing, on the other, they groan under the weight of exceptionally creative preparations. In particularly intense accumulations, salvation seems to be the melody, which anyone can generate, and which gives improvisation an almost ephemeral dimension. The final story, which initially seems to float in the clouds, gains intriguing dynamics, and then sinks into the mud of nervous nostalgia. Here, the way out of the impasse is an effective, farewell accumulation. Bravado, emotions, endless layers of expression - all fade away in a way that is as sensual as it is effective.' spontaneousmusictribune

(...)'Introduções delicadas com laivos de pós-barroco, deformadas pela criatividade e melodias retorcidas, são aqui delineadas tanto com frases puras como com aquelas banhadas na lama da preparação. Todas elas, primorosamente inervadas, permanecem num estado de permanente interação. Três instrumentos acústicos podem frasear de forma tão pouco óbvia, soar tão invulgar que, em muitos momentos, é difícil indicar se se trata do som de um violino, de um violoncelo ou de um arco de contrabaixo alto. A guitarra eléctrica fora do padrão constrói, é claro, um contraponto intrigante, por vezes dissonante, mas também pode encaixar-se perfeitamente nas correntes acústicas de sons. Os músicos fluem numa corrente de mudanças constantes - desde um passeio tranquilo numa colina verde, passando por acumulações ardentes, até meditações sombrias numa cripta profunda. Na segunda improvisação atingem um ritmo verdadeiramente impressionante, e muitas acções estão saturadas de dinâmicas surpreendentes. Na terceira parte, a mais longa, talvez a mais bela, deixam-se fazer absolutamente tudo.
Por um lado, unem-se no canto coral, por outro, gemem sob o peso de preparações excecionalmente criativas. Em acumulações particularmente intensas, a salvação parece ser a melodia, que qualquer um pode gerar, e que dá à improvisação uma dimensão quase efémera. A história final, que inicialmente parece flutuar nas nuvens, ganha uma dinâmica intrigante, para depois se afundar na lama da nostalgia nervosa. Aqui, a saída do impasse é uma acumulação eficaz, de despedida. Bravatas, emoções, camadas infinitas de expressão - tudo se desvanece de uma forma tão sensual quanto eficaz. spontaneous music tribune

Musician, Composer.

João Madeira has been totally committed to discovering new processes of creating and composing music, whilst, at the same time, exploring new concepts of musical performance.
Soundcloud upload with constant activity! Follow!
“A Fábrica de Nada”, 2005, and “A Máquina Hamlet”, 2020 - “Parece que o Mundo”, 2018, (contemporary dance).

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